1940s were definitely a complicated time in Estonian art. On one hand, there was social pressure, many talented artists lost their lives or were forced into exile, many turned into faithful citizens of the new regime. Of course we cannot say that the difficult times lasted all through the decade, because for example the German occupational authorities were fairly unheeding about organizing the art life (although not entirely indifferent to it). On the other hand, there was a certain burst of energy as artists painted a lot, intensively and proficiently; it has been said that Johannes Võerahansu, Endel Kõks or many others did their best work during those complicated 1940s. There were no big changes in painting style; artists continued working with the finds of the 1930s, often presenting them in a somewhat more mature, more elaborate and more powerful form. Võerahansu, who had to suspend his studies in the end of 1930s in order to help his father at the mill and earn money for tuition, is painting again in full swing. Country life and nature are always in his heart; sometimes he is attracted to portraying the idyllic side of it, other times the tragic side, but nature is never reduced to being just the background noise for him.  “Early Spring in the Forest (beginning of the 1940s)” is an interesting work compared to the “City View (1944)” by Endel Kõks. Their creative origins come from the same place: A landscape near Paris, the sink for washing paint brushes at “Pallas”, early spring when the ice is breaking. But as Võerahansu is impulsive, dynamic and sharp – Kõks is fancy, elegant and chic. One has a strong, the other one a very astute sense of colour; one likes willows, the other one likes roofs and windows. Or we can add Ülo Sooster to this medley; he was a lad from Hiiumaa who had not yet smelled the air of prison camps and Moscow and for whom nature was his whole world, with art being the means for opening it up. It is the tragic paradox of history that a creator of neutral and idyllic green-and-yellow nature  scenes would be sent to a prison camp and he returns from there as a cubist-surrealist innovator, one of the greatest in the Estonian art history. Or let’s take the fate of a fourth artist, which is so representative of the 1940s. When Võerahansu stayed in Estonia and Sooster was arrested - Kõks and Julius Gentalen leave. Kõks finds himself again in exile, his artistic quest is impetuous, he even takes in a whiff of abstractionism; but Gentalen’s soul seems to be permanently wounded. He paints Estonia and the old town of Tallinn over and over, from photos and from memory – but never again from nature. His “Landscape (1947)” proves all the rules of memory:  The bad disappears, the good remains and the Estonian landscape is never quite as beautiful as it is in the memories of those having to bid farewell.
The art community lived surprisingly well during the 1940s. Even more so. Professor of literature Ants Oras writes in his memoirs that “everyone is buying art”. German military officers lined up behind the door of Roman Nyman’s studio because it was a considerably more chic to send home one of the views of Haabneeme, rather than a mere post card. In the November of 1943 the newspaper “Postimees“  announces that Endel Kõks has opened an exhibition “showing close to 60 pieces from the artist’s work over the past few years”. It was a sales exhibition, and a successful one. Other artists have outstanding sales during this period as well, among others it is a good time for Wiiralt who, according to Oras, refuses to sell his prints to the Germans. This intense art market, born under unnatural circumstances, reflects on another interesting angle on collecting art. There you could really talk about buying art as an investment. At the time when inflation ate the value of money, it was the safest bet to put your money into art that never depreciates. Art can stay put, it can be complicated to sell during certain times, but in the long run art has been one of the safest investments during the whole 20th century, even in a small market like Estonia, as times were not the same as they were in the beginning of the century. By the early 1940s the circle of art collectors and enthusiasts had reached the point when they were here to stay.  The state collections were strong and respectable enough to endure even the most difficult times.  This notion was taken to the second half of the 1940s: the independent state of Estonia had survived, at least in the form of art pieces in numerous Estonian homes.

In our auction selection this period is represented by the following works:

JOHANN NAHA (1902–1982)
Toolse varemed. 1942
The Ruins of Toolse.

JOHANNES VÕERAHANSU (1902–1980)
Varakevadine mets. 1940ndate algus
Early Spring in the Forest. Beginning of 1940s

(Pöördel KARL PÄRSIMÄGI (1902–1942)
Valged lilled purgis. 1930ndad)
White Flowers in a Jar.

ÜLO SOOSTER (1924–1970)
Hiiumaa. 1940ndad
Hiiumaa. 1940s

ENDEL KÕKS (1912–1983)
Linnavaade. 1944
City View.

JULIUS GENTALEN (1903–1966)
Maastik. 1947
Landscape.

ALEKSANDER NORMAK (1895–1984)
Klaverimängija. 1940-50ndad
Pianist. 1940s-50s

SILVIA LEITU (1912–1967)
Natüürmort vihmavarjuga. 1949
Still Life with an Umbrella.

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